Fairchild Metroliner variant
Fairchild Metroliner SA227-AT Merlin IVC
Executive version of the Metro III, certified in 1980 with a higher take-off weight than the airliner. 21 were built, and the Expediter freighter shared the same SA227-AT designation.
- 21
- Units built
- 2,924 km
- Range
History
Two aircraft under one designation
The SA227-AT is a curious piece of naming: one factory designation covering two opposite products. On one side the Merlin IVC, the executive Metro III, whose name was chosen to align with the short-fuselage Merlin IIIC sold at the same time. On the other the Expediter, a strengthened-floor freighter without cabin windows that exploited the high gross weight option. One sold on its cabin; the other on not having one.
Weight and wing
The Merlin IVC was first certified in 1980 at up to 14,000 pounds, rising to 14,500 as engines and structure improved, with an option as high as 16,000. The three-metre span increase over the Metro II was achieved in the most pragmatic way imaginable: removing the wingtips, bolting an extension to the end of each wing and fitting new, lower-drag tips. TPE331-11U engines with quick-access cowlings and gear doors that close after extension completed the package.
Operational life
The last Merlin IVC was built in 1987, c/n AT-695B. A second-hand example ended up with the US Army as the solitary UC-26C, fitted with an integrated sensor package including forward-looking infrared and high-resolution radar. The version also worked in European civil surveillance: a CAE Aviation SA227-AT Merlin IVC crashed on take-off from Malta in October 2016 during a French-led operation against people-smuggling, killing all five on board.